September 20/10 15:35 pm - Queen's Park Grand Prix report

Posted by Editoress on 09/20/10

On Sunday, the first of what is hoped will become an annual event took place in downtown Toronto, with the running of the Queen's Park Grand Prix. An impressive crowd came out on the warm and sunny day to see ProTour riders Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Transitions) and local hero Michael Barry (Team Sky) go up against Canadian squad SpiderTech p/b Planet Energy and local top men.

Garneau Club Chassures' Jeff Schiller took a well-deserved victory over the big names in the men's race after a well-timed last lap move, beating Keven Lacombe (SpiderTech p/b Planet Energy) and Hesjedal. In the women's event, Joelle Numainville (Webcor Builders) had a controversial win after a crash in the sprint saw first-across-the-line Merrill Collins (La Bicicletta) relegated for changing her line.

The 1.5 kilometre Queen's Park oval around the Ontario legislature buildings has been used for over 20 years for races, and is a deceptively difficult circuit. It has no sharp corners, but the finishing side has a steady 4% gradual rise to the finish line for approximately 300 metres.

The 40 lap women's race saw multiple attacks off the front, but nothing could stick. Numainville, the national road champion, displayed her sprinting abilities by regularly scooping up primes during the race. For the finish, it was Collins, Numainville and Veronique Labonte (Team Nanoblur-Gears) at the front.

Collins was leading early in the sprint, but the other two were coming back to her. Collins was gradually drifting towards the center of the road, and all three riders came together, with Labonte going down after making contact with Numainville. Numainville hestitated momentarily, while Collins continued to the line.

The officials then went into a huddle, checking both photos and video of the incident. They declared Numainville the winner and relegated Collins, only to have the La Bicicletta team protest the decision. After another look at available evidence, the officials stuck by their decision to give the Webcor rider the win, with Leah Guloien (Total Restoration Cycling Team) moving into second and Suzie Brown (P-K Express/ Hnz Strategy) taking third.

"It's too bad that my win had to come like this," commented Numainville, "Merrill did a very good race, but she was moving across into me, and I had nowhere to go."

The men's 54 lap race was very aggressive from the start, as riders tried to form a breakaway group that could stay clear. SpiderTech was active in every move, and Hesjedal and Barry also took a hand at the front if it looked like something was going to get too far away for them to get across to. Barry was racing despite recovering from broken ribs and pneumonia.

Finally, with a little more than a third of the race completed, 12 riders opened a significant gap on the field. Hesjedal and Barry were both there, as were four SpiderTech riders - Lacombe, Ryan Roth, François Parisien and Mark Batty. Schiller had team mate Jamie Riggs, with the rest of the group made up of Ontario teams: Daniele Defranceschi (Jet Fuel Coffee), Thomas Devisscher (Ride With Rendell), Alex Bhogal (Mazurcoaching/Wheels of Bloor) and Warren Macdonald (Nine2fivepro.Com Cycling Team). Missing from the group was one of the most dangerous sprinters - Andrew Pinfold (UnitedHealthcare p/b Maxxis).

Hesjedal immediately set the example by driving the pace, and could be seen exhorting the SpiderTech riders to help with the pace setting. The gap stuck at 30 seconds for quite a while, with Pinfold making a couple of attempts to kickstart the chase, but as the race entered the final 20 kilometres the break started to pull away, with officials sprinting the field nine laps early to avoid them being lapped, and the resulting confusion.

SpiderTech sent Roth off the front, forcing Hesjedal to do much of the chasing. When the SpiderTech rider was brought back the leaders were down to five: Roth, Hesjedal, Lacombe, Schiller and Defranceschi. Roth tried to go again with three laps remaining, and again Hesjedal brought him back.

Going into the final lap, most bets were on either Hesjedal breaking away, or a sprint battle between Defranceschi and Lacombe. But it was the unheralded Schiller who came over the rise first, with a three bike length gap on Lacombe and Hesjedal. The Ontario rider was able to roll across the line with his arms in the air to celebrate the biggest win of his career.

"Ryder attacked, and just as we were going into the last lap he attacked again. Daniele followed him, and I got on his wheel," explained Schiller. "At the bottom of the course I decided I had to make my move there, and just ran for my life."

Race Notes

- For a first year event, the race was an excellent effort, and attracted a very strong crowd. However, it was clear that the organizers had little experience in organizing a race. Hopefully the event will return next year, and the organization will bring on some people with a background in running bike races.

- Andrew Randell from the SpiderTech team did a lot of the colour commentary, and did a fine job (although you do need speak up at times Andrew!). Randell is still recovering from a nasty crash six weeks ago in Europe, when he broke his femur. He says that so far recovery is going well, and he was able to start riding his trainer within two weeks of the crash.